DRAKE MUSIC PROJECT: Music & Mobility

The remarkable success of the Drake Music Project is proving that where music technology is concerned, disability is no handicap. MARK PRENDERGAST joins the levellers...

As music technology has developed, so musicians' skills have had to change. Physical stamina and manual dexterity are increasingly giving way to computer literacy and conceptual agility. What few able‑bodied musicians or designers anticipated were the opportunities this would open up for the disabled. Yet since the technological revolution of the 1980s, music made by and for disabled musicians has been pushing hardware and software research forward in different and often unforeseen ways.

The Drake Music Project was established in March 1988 by Adele Drake, with the aim of "giving the opportunity to anyone, regardless of physical ability, to take an active part in making music." London, Harrogate, Edinburgh, Newry and Dublin now boast 'centres of excellence', where Drake facilitate the use of technology by disabled people. In addition to immediate practical help, the project operates a music technology skills network, a comprehensive resources database, and is linked to an important software and hardware research project at York University.

Drake have built up a reputation over seven years that now sees them gaining an important foothold in the United States — where they toured last summer with a number of musicians. Last year, I spoke to musicians Judith Robinson and Debbie Hearn about their involvement in Drake, and what the project has achieved.

MIDI Potential

Judith is a professional cello player who has attended City University and the Guildhall, while Debbie plays the viola and attended Goldsmiths' College. Each came to Drake because of an unusual interest in MIDI. Judith had started using MIDI to transcribe improvised jazz pieces.

"I got into the Mac and MIDI, in order to print out all these fistfuls of notes. I realised its potential, started attending Drake as a research project, and joined in 1989". Debbie became involved due to her disillusionment with music therapy: "I was a volunteer at Drake workshops, and saw that people with disabilities didn't need therapy; they need access. I then felt I had to learn about MIDI and music technology, because of the access it gave disabled people to music. I now do one or two afternoons per week, teach the viola, piano and keyboards, play concerts, do sessions, help out on project co‑ordination and such. I joined Drake officially in 1990."

Of course, there would be no Drake Music Project without Adele Drake, whose head office is in Ripon, Yorkshire. An amateur pianist, she began in 1985 after seeing how environmental controllers (those that open and close windows and doors for disabled people) could be applied to music. In the early days, she struggled with a BBC Micro computer, and a program titled Compose. But as MIDI control spread inexorably through all stages of the music production process, things became easier for Adele, as Judith explains: "Basically, as soon as more things became computer‑controllable, instruments became accessible to anyone, via any interface you chose to use. As long as people could control the computer through some type of environmental control, they had musical control. This was the key to Adele's development of Drake."

Useful Technology

"We tend to focus on currently available technology," continues Judith. "Firstly, it's cheaper for us to buy. Secondly, there's not a lot that exists that's specially made for disability. We use Cubase a lot for sequencing, but there's also MIDI Grid, which is probably not familiar to readers of SOS. Since our workshops are most people's only contact with music technology, only a minority of committed adults will go further and ask our advice about equipment purchases. We go round MIDI shows to keep up."

The MIDI Grid is at the core of Drake's work. Debbie Hearn continues: "MIDI Grid turns the computer into a musical instrument, so music can be played by moving the mouse or moving the tracker ball. You can set up any size grid you like, from one box to 20 by 20. In each box, you can put a note, or a chord, or a sequence, and then activate it, either by passing through the box or hitting a mouse button. You can actually play a scale by moving the mouse. And you can put whatever notes, whatever chords or whatever sequences you want in each box. You can set all that up, and define what timbre you're going to use by stating what channel it's going to go out on. This is very useful, because the mouse and the tracker ball become quite sophisticated tools of adaptation for people with disabilities."

Debbie is relieved that Drake are moving to Macintosh from Atari. At the time of writing, they have introduced Apple 520C Powerbooks as standard at all their centres.

"The main reason is that we can use Ke:nx, which is a single switch overload, so you can connect cursor movement into a single switch. People who can't use a mouse or a tracker ball can actually control programs by using any movement they have — even a blowing movement, if that is all they can do. Again, we're always looking for more malleable things; more flexibility."

Debbie finds it interesting how people adapt to what is available.

"When the Yamaha QY20 came out, we looked at that and felt we had to try it, because it would be useful for people with restricted but very finely‑controlled movement. I actually read about it in SOS, and when I saw the size of the keypad I thought, 'That's the business'. For somebody with muscular dystrophy or weak muscular movement, it was ideal.

"Analogue‑to‑MIDI drum triggers have also been very useful, when used in conjunction with a sampler. The first time I saw them being used was by a guy called Mark Rowland, who actually plays keyboards with his feet — but this time he was playing music with his wheelchair! He had a bug on the spokes, one on the footplate and one on a table in front of him. In this way, he was able to get multiple triggers with a rapid succession of notes coming out."

Breaking The Rules

Drake believes in breaking the rules. Judith feels that throughout history, this is what makes for interesting music.

"People tend to develop a musical style because of the way they are physically. Django Reinhardt played a guitar with only two fingers, and that didn't hinder him. Mark Rowland plays with his feet, and if he hits two notes at once, that's his kind of harmony. His work's so good, he's been collaborating recently with Jools Holland. Steve Knight is another musician who plays keyboards with his feet, and the width of his feet are about the size of a perfect fourth. When he plays these chords he comes out with all these parallel fourths. It breaks every rule in the book, but it's just the Steve Knight sound."

Evelyn Glennie is a very famous musician whose hearing difficulty has not detracted from her music. Of course, Beethoven was deaf, and Stockhausen has always had a hearing deficiency in one ear. Some might say this is the reason for all three producing powerful music. Drake has plenty of experience of working with deaf musicians. Judith explains:

"It's usually an area of hearing loss — either high pitch or low frequency. A lot depends on the amplification. With one woman, we have to wear a radio mic around our necks so she can hear us, or prop it up against the amp when she's making music."

Research & Development

Research and development are vital if Drake are to make intelligent use of new technology. According to Judith, a link with York University has been important in the development of MIDI Grid and other technologies.

"MIDI Grid is now commercially available, but it came out of York University. Adele wanted something written, and met Andy Hunt who was writing MIDI grids for the Music Technology Research group there. Through this link, she met an MSc student named Tim Anderson, who developed the E‑Scape program for Drake, as his PhD project (see the 'E‑Scape' box).

Drake feel it is workshops that are the most productive environment for their musicians. For Judith, they can even help with composition.

"It's an education question. If somebody wants to compose, it may not be that easy, and that's where the workshops come in. Here, they can learn about the different elements of music like rhythm and harmony. It can be formalised or come through practical work, and that's where sequencing comes in. Obviously, sequencing is a very powerful tool for somebody who wants to create music, but doesn't have physical access to conventional instrumentation, and needs to be able to change what they record later."

To an outsider, we look like people who work with disabled people — and it's perceived as music therapy.

Since Drake is a charity, each workshop has to be specifically funded. Workshops are necessary, so that people can develop as musicians over longer periods of time. Becoming familiar with the technology is vital. Debbie sees her role as "mixing in information and skills with people discovering for themselves the sounds of the instruments. Sometimes you're a tutor, sometimes you are offering technical support."

Positive Interface

Steve Knight and Mark Rowland are two musicians who used to come to workshops, but have now graduated to a tutoring and technical support role. For Drake, it's important to have disabled people sitting on the committee and deciding things, and actually involved in running the organisation. Mark Rowland has achieved quite a high profile from working with ex‑Squeeze keyboardist and TV personality Jools Holland, and Debbie sees him as something of an ambassador for the Drake Project:

"It's a very good way for Mark to get recognition. Jools really likes Mark's music, and they rehearse here in Blackheath. They've done a couple of gigs together, one at Drake, and one at a Drake music showcase at the Queen Elizabeth Hall. They've also got together to write a couple of times. Mark comes up with the original material, and Jools will jam with it."

Into The Mainstream

Though Drake have had interest from the media, Judith still sees a lot of prejudice in the mainstream.

"To an outsider, it looks like people who work with disabled people — and it's perceived as music therapy. Then when they come to a concert, they like the music and find it powerful. People still have an image of people with disability as not having anything to say."

Drake see themselves in the long‑term as hitching up with a record and distribution label like Stream Records, and pushing their own recordings into the wider market. Stream is a unique record label established by musician Genie Cosmas, with the express purpose of getting music by disabled people to as wide an audience as possible. It has funded the recording of three albums, and according to its founder, "will consider all music by disabled artists or integrated groups." It distributes the work of Drake electronicist Dave Levett, while Cosmas's integrated group Fish Out Of Water have performed at Drake events. Judith encourages people to listen without prejudice.

"When you listen to a CD, you can't tell what condition the person is in. Clare Graydon‑James, who's on Stream, is a singer who plays the piano. She may be blind, but she's no different to Ray Charles or Stevie Wonder, and should be considered as such."

As a parting shot, Judith spells out her vision of the future of the Drake Project:

"We want to have our own studio down here, where stuff is hard‑wired in. Our studio now is in flightcases and cardboard boxes, and it goes into cars because you can't expect every disabled person in the South East to come to Blackheath to use it. We're always going to be mobile, but we also need to have a decent studio — a permanent facility which can be linked up to Stream's distribution source. That's our dream: to have a fully accessible recording facility which is completely digital, so it's computer‑controlled, and anybody, whatever their physical ability, can come and use it."